


The Perfect Present

by Dyleon



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Baby Scott, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Firefighter Derek Hale, Kid Fic, M/M, Single Parent Stiles Stilinski
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-23
Updated: 2016-02-02
Packaged: 2018-03-03 01:39:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2833439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dyleon/pseuds/Dyleon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes the perfect Christmas present...<br/>...is a fake boyfriend to get rid of your family and ex-girlfriend problems.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [maevedarcy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/maevedarcy/gifts).



> Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas, Camila!

Stiles is twiddling his thumbs while he’s sitting on Dad’s couch as he watches Scott playing with Lego in the other room. He can hear a little of the conversation his dad is having right now on the phone, actually eavesdrops the kitchen a little.

“Alright, see you then,” his dad says, hangs off and comes out of the kitchen, shutting the door behind him with a loud bang. He sighs and looks to the floor first before he raises his eyes to Stiles and places the phone on the table. “Your grandparents are coming to visit in two days. Just, you know… be nice and try not to act like you’re annoyed all the time.”

“You mean I should ignore their comments about ‘Scott not having a mother is bad for him’? Sure, I can try to tame myself,” Stiles huffs out and immediately looks back to Scott in the other room if he heard anything.

 _Thank god_ , he’s still playing with his Legos next to the fireplace. He just looks like the little kid he’s supposed to be. All Stiles can see is his happy son. He can understand why grandma is like that, but he still thinks all of her concerns are unnecessary because Scott and he are totally fine.

“You know she only means it good, Stiles.”

“I _know_ she does, Dad,” Stiles says and throws his head back against the couch. “It’s just… Once she’s there, I feel like I should feel ashamed for something.”

“Yeah... that’s your grandma,” Dad sighs and sets himself down on the couch next to him. Stiles crosses his arms and turns his eyes away from the ceiling to look to his dad as he gives him a small nudge and smirks. “You can go to your friends now. I’ll keep an eye on Scott meanwhile.”

Stiles looks at his watch and nods to his dad, getting up from the couch and walks to Scott. “Hey, kiddo,” he says to Scott as he sits down next to him to the warm fire, making him realize how cold it was in the dining room. Scott has his warm thick pullover and he’s only wearing a shirt, like he always does. It's winter, Stiles. Don't forget that.

“Hi, Daddy! Look what I’ve built!” Scott immediately says and holds a Lego figure in front of him. It's big and red and looks like a car.

“Aw, that’s awesome, Scott! Is that a fire truck?”

“Mmmm,” Scott hums, nodding with closed eyes and a proud expression on his face while he’s presenting it in both of his hands. “I did it on my own! Imma drive one when I’m older, just like Derek!”

Stiles laughs and ruffles Scott’s hair. “I’m sure you will—as brave as you are? Definitely.”

"Hey!" Scott tries to flee Stiles’ hand which is messing up his hair.

“I have to go now. My friends are waiting for me.”

“Derek too?” Scott asks with raised eyebrows and holds his Lego truck higher into the air. “Tell him that I built this, okay?” It’s quite obvious that Scott looks up to Derek and his firefighter stuff, just like Stiles got hooked up by Dad’s police man stuff. When Scott’s old enough, he wants to join the junior team which Derek always takes care of. They call each other brothers already, that’s how good Derek and Scott get along.

“Sure, I will,” Stiles says and kisses Scott into his forehead and gets up. “See you later, sweetheart. And don’t forget to be nice to your grandpa, okay?”

“Yeah, did you hear that, Scott? Be nice to grandpa,” Stiles hears Dad yell from the other room and hears a snort he notices is his own as he leaves the living room towards the front door. Scott’s now out of earshot which means for his dad to tease him as he gets his keys given into his hand. “Keep it easy, I don’t want to have to arrest my own son...  _again_.”

“It was just one time!” Or two times… or three. Who even counts that nowadays?

Anyway, Stiles rolls his eyes and puts on his jacket as he gets pushed out the door into the darkness of the streets. He loves his dad. _Really._

As Stiles gets into the club, he already spots Derek and Isaac at the bar, drinking their drinks while they’re talking. It seems to be a busy day for the bar tenders. It’s really crowded in here and you barely can hear the electric music under the people’s voices. It’s a miracle he found them that fast actually. They don’t see each other so often nowadays because Isaac and Derek are firefighters, Erica and Boyd are married and Stiles? Stiles has a child at home.

“Hey guys,” Stiles says as he pulls at a bar chair to sit next to them as they greet him with little handshakes and a bro hug. “Where’re Erica and Boyd?”

“They’re coming a little later as it looks like,” Isaac says, taking another sip as he places his elbows onto the counter. “Should we crash this party without them?”

“Nah, I don’t think so. We shouldn’t start without them. It's friends night,” Stiles points out.

Derek leans against the bar counter, facing the dance floor with crossed arms for a moment and turns around. “Hey Phil! Another one,” he yells to the bar tender a few meters away who is now bringing him another drink. “S'on me. Don’t worry," Derek says, shoving the glass into Stiles' hand. “After I put down a fire here, I get drinks for a lower prize, so go ahead.”

Stiles looks suspiciously at the glass in his hand and looks up to Derek. “Must be practical being a hero to everyone, huh?” he huffs out before he finally takes a big gulp out of the glass. He stares into the glass on his lips for a moment, trying to guess what’s in there. “Ah… Nothing's better than ginger ale mixed with a little beer.”

“No problem," Derek says, smirking at him.

“Hey, where’s your kid, though?” Isaac asks, turning their attention to him. “Doesn't he have school tomorrow?”

“Yeah, he has—last day,” Stiles answers, placing his drink on the counter, squinting to Isaac. “His grandpa’s keeping an eye on him and drives him home later.”

“That’s really nice of him.”  _It really is_ , Stiles thinks. His dad knows that he hasn’t much time to see his friends with Scott—not only because he’s too busy. His friends are too. “Well, _I_ am going now. See y’all at the dance floor when Erica and Boyd are here.”

“Sure thing,” Stiles answers Isaac while Derek waves him off as he disappears into the dancing crowd and lights. There’re a lot of better things than watching Isaac’s _dance moves_ anyway. But it also means they’re not actually together as friends now. Erica and Boyd are still on their way to the club and Isaac is alone on the dance floor—although he’ll probably find some boy toy to dance with.

“Well, there would be only the two of us, then.” Derek shrugs, looking to Stiles. “How’s your life as, you know, _dad_ doing?”

Derek’s question is something he actually has to think about—, a lot. Seriously, how is it doing? It’s doing _great_. Just that they have money problems and Scott doesn’t see his dad that much because he needs to work for money, so they don’t starve. Okay... he takes everything back. It’s all, but not okay.

“S'okay. Just a little stressed by my grandma.” He lies because he just doesn't want to annoy other people with his problems, actually feels bad for having money problems since he’s the one to blame.

“Why’s that?” Derek asks, turning to Stiles with one side leaned against the counter.

“Ah… She just thinks I should look for another wife, thinks it’s not good for Scott if he hasn’t a mother.”

“Wow, that’s rude…”

“I know!” It really pisses Stiles off actually. His dad himself raised him without Mum and Stiles is totally fine—more or less. “It’s like she’s telling me that my dad did his job wrong with me. It’s…”

“Shit,” Derek finishes his sentence.

“Yeah... And she’s going to visit me and my dad on Christmas, so it’s gonna be _even better_ ,” Stiles sighs and downs his drink into his throat after he put a little more alcohol into it. “How’re you doing by the way—Still having problems with your girlfriend?”

“ _Ex_ -girlfriend,” Derek adds then, making Stiles eyes widen and jaw drop.

“Woah okay, what happened?”

“The _right_ thing, man. She’s freaking creepy. She looked like she was going to burn down my entire family if I broke up with her,” Derek says turning up his nose. Stiles never talked or saw her, so he doesn’t know what he should think of her but that indeed sounds like a psychopath. “I just said, 'We should keep it easy and do a break because I’m not ready and want to see if we could get together after the break' or something like that. I can’t remember. I just wanted her to be gone.”

“And where is she now?”

“She left to New York and doesn’t want to see me again—expect she is. She’s going to visit Beacon Hills this Christmas,” Derek sighs and lets his head sink onto the bar counter as he murmurs into his arms, “Phil... Another one.”

It’s actually funny. No, really, _it is_. Both of them will probably have a shitty Christmas. It’s only funny because they’re not alone, though. Stiles don’t want to make fun of Derek’s situation, not at all, but he’s still happy not to be alone by having a shitty Christmas… Okay, who is he kidding—It is rude. “Well, guess we both won’t have a pleasant Christmas then,” Stiles sighs.

“Pretty much, yes…”

Both take a big gulp out of their glasses.

 

◊

 

Erica and Boyd show up only a few minutes after. They mostly just set around and talk, asking the other about their lives the whole evening. Even though Isaac is the only one to really dance, Stiles has fun seeing his friends again. Sadly enough the night was over and Stiles is already sitting in his car, driving back home. At least he could see his little son before the night ends.

Stiles drives into the parking lot of their house, not driving into the garage because he would have to drive out to bring Scott to school tomorrow anyway. He steps into the house, pulls his jacket off and heads to Scott’s room before he does anything else.

The lights were off in Scott’s room when he was outside the house and are off now too. Which means that Scott is definitely asleep and doesn’t try to fool his dad. Stiles actually only waits for the day Scott will do that, so he can teach him why no one is able to fool Stiles Stilinski. _No one_. But not now.

He’s looking around Scott’s room for a moment and stops when his eyes meet a little stature on the table. It’s the little Lego fire truck Scott built for Derek. Stiles totally forgot about it. Sure, it’s only a Lego fire truck but Scott wanted him to tell Derek about it. He looks over to Scott who’s sleeping peacefully on his bed.

“Sorry, kiddo…”

“Why sorry?”

“Scott, why are you still awake?!” Stiles actually flinches as he hears Scott’s voice and sees him jump off the bed. “It’s,” he stops, turning on the light and points at the clock, “11pm and tomorrow’s school!”

“I woke up when your car pulled up,” Scott says and immediately starts running to Stiles. “What did Derek say? Was he impressed? You know, because of the truck?”

Scott is _exactly_ as hyperactive as he was as a kid.

Stiles actually wants to sound sorry, but can’t because of the fact that it’s 11pm and Scott isn’t asleep yet. And he knows for sure he didn’t wake up because of the car. He even sees the Gameboy on Scott’s bed blinking! He’s so going to ban TV for a week. “I’ve forgot to tell him. I’m going to do that tomorrow when you are going to turn off your Gameboy and _go to sleep_ , okay?”

“I’m coming too.”

“What do you mean ‘you’re coming too’? I meant I’m going to call him.”

“Why don't you visit Derek?”

“Because he’ll be at work and won’t come back until late at night, that’s why. _And_ —You’re not coming.”

“But tomorrow’s the last day of school anyway,” Scott whines and pouts up to Stiles, jumping up and down. “ _Pleeease_!”

“… TV will be banned for two weeks.”

“Deal!”

Wait. Did that actually work? Scott prefers something to _watching TV_? Stiles can’t deny that a proud feeling is going through his head right now. He made it that Scott finally stops watching TV for the whole Christmas holidays. “Good. We’re going to visit him tomorrow evening. Now go to sleep,” Stiles says.

Scott nods and climbs into his bed again. Stiles turns off the lights and shuts the door behind him, sighing as he leans back against it.

Looks like they’re going to visit Derek tomorrow.


	2. Chapter 2

Scott runs up all those stairs much faster than Stiles. He only went up three floors, but is still exhausted as hell. Why must Derek and Isaac live in a loft of an old defunct factory? He hasn’t visited their loft for a while.

As Stiles walks up the stairs, he can hear barking from the floors above him. He reaches the door—which is actually not a door when you can’t lock it—a few minutes after Scott. It’s already opened and a dog immediately runs out of it to Stiles, doing some circles around his legs.

“Aw, how you doing, buddy?” Stiles says while he pets the dog behind its ears, getting heckling as a respond. “Haven’t seen you in a while.” He gets up again and steps into the loft, looking around. The loft is illuminated by many Christmas lights and he sees Scott talking to Isaac next to the fire place while Derek is walking towards him. And seriously, he’s wearing a Christmas tank top—he didn’t even know something like that existed—with fucking reindeers on it. Like, literally, _fucking reindeers_.

“Hey Stiles,” Derek says as he pulls Stiles into an awkward hug because for once, Derek is wearing this tank top and second, Cappuccino won’t stop circling around Stiles’ legs. “Merry Christmas time!”

“Happy Yuletide to you too, man!” They push away from each other again. Stiles looks more around the loft. “I see you decorated the loft. Looks good.”

“Thanks,” Derek says rubbing the back of his head. “I just thought I’d revamp the loft a little for visitors. It was a surprising call when you said you’d wanted to come.”

 _A little_ , Stiles asks himself, not saying it out loud because, well, the loft looks more than just ‘a little’ revamped. But the fact that he said it’s all for _his_ visit confuses him slightly. “You didn’t do it for your ex, though?”

“Oh, don’t remind me of that,” Derek says, rolling his eyes as he put on his oven gloves. “The difference between your visit and her visit is that I’m happy about yours,” he huffs after he walked back into the kitchen corner and gets the cookies out of the oven. “She didn’t even tell me when she would come.”

“Wow, that’s really effed up.”

“Yeah, it is,” Derek says over his shoulder as Stiles walks towards the fire place where Isaac and Scott are sitting. “By the way, Scott gave me his Lego truck he built. It’s awesome.”

“Glad you like it. Scott was talking about it the whole… Gosh, Cappuccino! Just let me at least walk for a second!” Cappuccino just doesn’t want to stop circling around Stiles’ legs while he walks to Scott and Isaac—, almost trips actually because of him.

When Stiles walks closer to them, he sees that Isaac is wearing a Christmas pullover, but it doesn’t look as stupid as Derek’s reindeer tank top. Not _at all_. It’s weird, though. Even Isaac wears Christmas themed clothes now. What is even happening right now? He can’t even remember the last time this loft looked so Christmassy.

When he thinks about it, maybe it was before… _Oh_. It was before Scott lost his mother.

From the thought only, Stiles feels sick, so he pushes the thought away as fast as he can. _Just, please… not now—, when I’m not alone._

“Hey sweetheart,” Stiles purrs out, sitting down next to the two and pets Scott’s head. He hopes to distract himself. Gladly, it works. “How were the two of you doing?”

“Finally, you made it up the stairs, _grandpa_ ,” Isaac says, making Stiles eye roll so much on him, he thinks his eyes are going around circles in his head. “Would you want to use the firefighter slides when you’re leaving?”

“You guys have those?” Scott asks excitedly. “Where? Isn’t this a little too high for slides?”

“Nope, kiddo. Just more fun.”

“Cool!”

Stiles automatically interrupts and corrects. “Scott, it’s dangerous. Danger is no fun, have you forgot?”

“God, Stiles! Having a child really made you to a total buzz killer, even for your child. Let him at least have some fun!”

“Isaac, _you_ wouldn’t even try the slide…” Stiles crosses his arms. Cappuccino immediately comes and starts barking in agreement. “See? Even Cappuccino agrees!” Stiles crouches down, giving Cappuccino a dog-to-human-high-five and ruffles up his fur. “Haven’t seen you in a while,” Stiles says in a higher pitched voice while he’s tickling the spot behind Cappuccino’s ears. “You were a little puppy and had many bandages the last time I saw you. You’re way bigger than back then now.”

“Er, when you’re done talking to the dog, maybe you could greet, you know, your old friend? _Isaac_ , he’s here too, you know?”

“Do you want me to fondle you behind your ear too now or what?” Stiles snorts, holding his hand out for Isaac. “I just saw you yesterday again, don’t try to look sentimental.”

“You’re such a di—,” Stiles immediately shushes Isaac, jerking his head back to Scott as his eyes widen angrily at him. Isaac instantly gets the message. Right. _Child_. Isaac’s word is still on his lips stuck on the D. He barely makes it to save it. “D… _Douche_.”

“Haha, Isaac, you said a bad word!” Scott giggles behind Stiles’ back anyway, making Stiles rub his eyes and sigh.

Stiles forces a laugh and a pretty fake-looking smile out when he turns to Scott, squinting with an annoyed look back to Isaac. “Yeah, he did. _Ha ha…_ ” Isaac can be lucky he could save this one. Since Scott’s teacher told him that he started using the word _a’ hole_ because of Isaac, he made a pretty bad look at the parent teacher meeting. That is _not_ going to happen again. “But Isaac won’t use bad words. _Right_ , Isaac?”

“Um… yeah,” Isaac laughs nervously. It’s fascinating how much he can scare Isaac with his dad status.

“Aw, I have no problem with that,” Scott says, looking up to both of them. “I could use some words to defend my friend Danny!”

“Scott, only silly people use… wait, who’s Danny?”

“A new boy in my group and he’s _soooo_ nice! He made me a space ship out of paper! Isn’t that cool?” Scott actually blushes and looks really excited about this new Danny boy—, this boy he hasn’t told him about until just now… So… he’s making his son gifts just to be _nice_?

_I don’t like it._

“Oh, you have to tell me everything about him!” Isaac automatically sits down next to Scott who’s still playing with his Lego, but now shoots his eyes right to Isaac, confused. “Is he, like, _really_ good looking or—” Stiles doesn’t like _this_ even more now. This little shit is not going to influence his son with his thirst of boy toys. Nope, Stiles definitely doesn’t want Scott to become like him.

“Whoa, whoa, hold on, Isaac! _I’m_ the dad here,” he says grabbing Isaac’s shoulder and pulling him upright again and points to Scott with his other hand. “And you, young man, are going to tell me about… er… _him_ later.” Scott doesn’t seem to get anything, though. _Thank god_.

Just as Stiles wants to roll his eyes on Isaac, a metal crashing sound fills the loft, followed by a noise of someone slipping on something and a groan, turning everyone’s attention to the kitchen. Gosh, it even scared the hell out of Cappuccino, making him whine and run to Derek who just let his bowl of pastry fall in the floor and fell right with it.

“S’everything okay, Derek?” Scott jumps up with Cappuccino and runs as the first to Derek to help him stand up.

Derek is covered in dough now—well, maybe in dough which has a little too much milk in it because, damn, the fabric of his tank top isn’t really thick. Unlike the things Derek has beneath it. I mean, look at those muscles! Stiles knows he’s into men too since high school actually—that’s why he wouldn’t freak out if Scott and this Danny dude were bounding (or well, maybe a little)—but _this_ is ridiculously hot.

But wait. It’s Derek. One of his best friends at college. The crushing days are long over. That’s probably even worse than thinking about Scott’s mot—NO. Stop with these stupid thoughts. That’s exactly why Dad calls him… Well, what did he call it? _Stupid_. Sure, he crossed the age of 18 and is officially an adult now… but _not really_. He sucks at being an adult, to be honest.

Stiles runs to Derek and tries to steady him. “Did the big hero just fall on his _big hero butt_?” he asks jokingly, only to realize that he just called his butt _big_. If Derek sees that as a compliment or insult is left for him.

Derek groans as they help him up, trying to not slip out again. “Thanks... I… I should change clothes, I guess.”

_Aww, no more fucking reindeers?_

“And shower,” Isaac yells as he still walks towards the kitchen and leans against the kitchen counter. “You smell anyway.”

Derek rolls his eyes. Scott giggles, but tries to force it down. At least. Stiles doesn’t like it that he’s laughing because of Isaac’s jokes. “You’re probably right, I mean about the shower. It’s easier to get all this stuff away,” Derek says while he’s wiping his hands down his wet chest full of white, thick… um…

_Don’t stare. Don’t stare. Do. Not. Stare._

Stiles tries to cover up his eyes as unobtrusively as possible because just staring at this scenario penetrates his eyes. Derek walks up the stairs, leaving a trail of a mixture of dough and milk behind him. Luckily, it gives Stiles enough time to recover from what he just saw and retreat his jaw from the floor. He hears the shower from the floor above him, sighing in relieve.

But then the suddenly the picture of Derek how he’s showering crosses Stiles’ mind. _Great_.

God, it’s been a long time. No wonder his sexual tension is miserably desperate for literally _everyone_ , even his old college roommates—expect Isaac because, just, _no_.

When Stiles looks up from the floor to see the others, Isaac looks at him with this stupid grin. “So…,” Isaac starts raising his brows, “that was something.” His grin turns even more stupid for a moment as he tilts his head.

Stiles tries to cover his total embarrassment and shrugs without saying a goddamn thing. Isaac does the same.

 

◊

 

Only two minutes after, Isaac is telling his dumb college stories to Scott. Most of them are embarrassing for Stiles of course, so he sits at the kitchen table, far away from them, so he wouldn’t hear a thing. Derek is still showering and probably will take even longer to get rid of this stuff.

All Stiles can think of right now is how awful the family dinner with his grandma would be as suddenly, he hears someone knocking at the door. Isaac, Scott and Stiles look confused at each other for a moment. They haven’t invited anybody else, have they?

Suddenly, Isaac’s face turns into a state of shock. “Oh no, not _her_ ,” Isaac whispers forcefully to Stiles. Stiles doesn’t know who “her” is but it wouldn’t be the first girl Isaac has a problem with. “Dude, you need to help me. Tell her no one’s home!”

“Who’s—”

“Just do it!” Isaac jerks his head towards the door while he’s hiding behind the couch. Stiles sighs and rubs his eyes again. He’s the closest one to the door so it shouldn’t bother him to get up and open it. He lied for Isaac before and can do it one more time to help his friend—after all, it’s Christmas.

As he opens the door, he suddenly looks into the eyes of a woman with blond hair, a little bit taller than him and probably around his age. God, Isaac, why don’t you just chose girls who are at least smart enough to get that they were played with after it, so he doesn’t have to make up lies after lies?

Stiles is going to behead him right after the door has closed.

She raises her eyebrows as he sees Stiles. “I haven’t expected here to be more… visitors. Where’s he?” the blond woman asks and smirks at him creepily.

“Um… I’m sorry, but he’s not home. He has a late night shift,” Stiles says awkwardly because this is the dumbest lie ever.

“Who’re you?”

“I’m…,” he stops, trying to make something up that would explain why he’s here when Isaac isn’t home. A friend wouldn’t wait at another friend’s house—wouldn’t be logical—and he also shouldn’t act like he’s Isaac’s new boyfriend without permission. But wait, Isaac isn’t the only one who lives here, she definitely knows that. He can’t believe he’s doing this for Isaac. “I’m Derek’s boyfriend.”

Just now, he can hear a small chough from the back of the couch which must be from Isaac.

_I’m doing this for you, Isaac! Keep it quiet and don’t ruin it yourself!_

He ignores it and continues.

The woman looks like she just got hit by a train for a moment, but forces a smile right back on her face. “Oh? Derek and you are together? I didn’t know he was bi.”

“Yeah, s’funny how the people which are closest to you are full of wonders, huh? And you are?”

“W-what? He haven’t told you about me?” She really looks like she's fighting to keep her smile.

Of course Isaac haven’t told him. He never tells him anything about his sex victims—which he is very thankful of.

Scott approaches with Cappuccino behind Stiles’ legs, looking to her too now. “Daddy, who is this lady?” Isaac coughs even heavier now.

 “ _Daddy?_ You and Derek have a child?” Kate looks to Scott who’s now hiding behind Stiles’ legs because yes, this woman is really uncomfortable-making.

“Yes,” Stiles says, petting the dog and lifts Scott up with his other arm. “Happy, little family, that’s what we are.” He stops and fakes a laugh. He’s a good actor that’s for sure.

“Wait, you and Derek are together?” Scott immediately turns his head to Stiles.

“Yes, we _are_ …,” Stiles hisses with a forced smile.

“That’s so cool! Now I have a firefighter-dad!”

The woman who’s still standing at the door is bursting out in laughter, clapping her hands together. “Ha, I shouldn’t have bothered you and your _happy_ family. I’m _sorry_.” And as she says that, the door already flings shut.

That was awkward.

Stiles puts Scott down onto the floor and lets him run back to Isaac with Cappuccino. “You can come out of your hiding place now, Isaac.”

Isaac almost trips as he gets out behind the couch and runs to Stiles. “Dude! _Dude_!!” Isaac coughs several times and breaks out in laughter, falling to the carpet and holds his stomach from how hard he’s laughing. Cappuccino walks to Isaac and whines, thinking he’s concerned that Isaac is in some kind of pain which Stiles hopes he is.

“I know I saved your life. Now get up and stop being an idiot!”

“That’s not,” Isaac looks like up and gets licked by the dog. “… that’s not it! BWAHAHA!!”

“What’s the noise?” Derek asks as he goes down the stairs. Apparently he’s finished showering.

He hasn’t dried himself properly because his new tank top is sticking to his— _Stiles no, stop that right now._

“You’ll never believe who just knocked on the door,” Isaac grits out as he tries to lift himself up and looks to Derek. “Your ex-girlfriend Kate and apparently you’re together with Stiles and have a child together now. Hahaha.”

“Wait, WHAT?!” Isaac laughs even more at Stiles’ shocked voice. “I thought it was one of your fuck-girls!—Oh _god_. Scott… forget what I just said.”

“Already happened, Dad…”

“Are you kidding me, Isaac!?!” Derek throws his hands up to cover his face as he’s yelling right now. “This is horrible! How could you do that?!”

“Horrible? Hey, she’s gone now! And also, _I_ wasn’t the one who made up this lie— _unfortunately_ —it was all Stiles!”

The room goes silent for a moment, pure shock is on everyone’s face, well, expect of Isaac and maybe Scott too.

Derek holds his fingers onto the bridge of the nose, walking in circles. “Okay… this is really bad.” It’s like Derek is holding something back, hesitates for a moment before he looks up to Stiles. “But if I’m thinking about it, maybe… it’s a good thing!”

“Okay, why is that a good thing?” Stiles shouts angrily, waving his arms around the air.

“Well, Isaac has a point. Now she’s gone... I mean, yeah, she’s not entirely _gone_ gone and is probably going to visit me again but—”

“Are you… trying to tell me that I should play your boyfriend to get rid of your girlfriend?”

“Well…”

“No! That’s like the stupidest—” Stiles stops as a simple thought crosses his mind.

That’s it. That’s the solution.

“Deal!”

“Wha- Really?” For a moment, even Derek looks like he’s surprised by his answer—like a puppy. “You want to do it?”

“Yes, I’m gonna play your boyfriend,” Stiles says, pausing for moment to catch air, “ _if_ ,” he tries to say it in a serious tone, “ _but only if_ … you’re playing my boyfriend at my grandma’s visit.”

“And after Christmas, it’s all over.”

Derek and Stiles step closer and shake their hands with a nod.

“Oh gosh, that is _great_! Should have brought popcorn with me,” Isaac says and throws himself back onto the floor and laughs, getting more licked by Cappuccino.

_This Christmas is going to be free from family and ex-girlfriend problems._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somehow, Isaac turned out to become a bisexual Barney Stinson. Well...


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This update has been waiting to be posted for months if not even years, so here it finally is. Or well, at least the last chapter is up to follow.

The rain is just terrible and Stiles barely can focus on the street right now. With one hand on the steering wheel and the other placed in front of his mouth as he occupies a thinking position, looking through the rearview mirror to Scott who’s playing peacefully with his GameBoy. Maybe he should have banned that thing too, but Stiles thought that that might be too cruel for a child.

  
“Scott, how many times have I told you not to hold that thing too close to your eyes?” Stiles sighs out, looking back to the streets. He’s not sure why, but he just wants to talk about something, even if it means commanding his own child around. Otherwise he’ll go crazy with all these thoughts about what just happened at Derek and Isaac’s.

  
“Sorry,” Scott pouts as he holds the GameBoy further away. But that’s it, he doesn’t say anything more after as if nothing was weird about this whole situation, which it is because his dad just made a deal with his big fireman hero to play fake boyfriends.

  
“So,” Stiles says hesitantly, rubbing the back of his head while he keeps his other hand on his steering wheel, “is there... anything you want to ask me?”

“About what?”

  
“Well,” Stiles starts and turns his head back to Scott, “you know, about what happened at Derek’s?”  
“Oh, you mean that,” Scott purrs out and lets go of his console. “I’m excited! It’s like playing secret agent, right?”

  
“Scott, you know that’s not, uh… nevermind. You know what?” Stiles asks, lifting his head in more confidence. After all, his son has a point. “Yes, you’re right. It’s exactly like playing secret agents; it’s not real and me and Derek are just doing that for our benefits’ sake and not because we’re in love or anything.”

  
“You’re not?” Scott asks. His voice sounds so quiet and disappointed that it makes Stiles’ heart ache. Scott has always wanted Derek to be his father, mainly because he could show off with his firefighter dad at school.

  
“No, kiddo,” Stiles huffs and shakes his head. “I guess you can’t show off with your firefighter dad, then.”  
“Damn it.”

  
Normally, Stiles would lecture him about the use of bad words, but he’s too exhausted right now and prefers to throw himself into his comfy covers of his at home as soon as they get home. “You can say that.”

◊

As he hears Stiles’ jeep pull of and only then, Derek dares to look back to Isaac, giving him the most judging and dirty look he could form with his face.

  
“What the hell was that?” Derek asks.

  
“Dude, that was the ticket to Stiles-burg, I’m telling you!”

  
“No, I meant what the hell you’ve been thinking!” Derek yells, his face burning in colours of red and pink.

  
Isaac crosses his arms and leans against the couch. “C’mon, don’t tell me you’re not gonna take this opportunity, Der’,” Isaac says as he pets Cappuccino’s fur. “I saw the way you looked at him at the party from the dance floor. You’re totally crushing at him. Still. Admit it already.”

  
“I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of something called ‘consensual boundaries between friends’, but you could have really considered it this time.”

  
“Nope,” Isaac says and it annoys Derek how Isaac’s voice lifts as if it is a question.

  
“He wouldn’t go for me anyway,” Derek says and shrugs. “I’m like… his best friend since college. And also he’s got a child.”

  
“So? I think they wouldn’t mind. Scott would die to have a firefighter as a dad, man.”

  
“Don’t say that,” Derek murmurs as his gaze drops to the floor. “It wasn’t long ago since Stiles and Scott lost Allison. I don’t want to do anything stupid.”

  
Isaac throws his arms into the air, then towards Derek. “Dude, you would have to be completely stupid if you didn’t use this opportunity.”  
“Well, I guess that’s the reason I dropped out of college.”

  
“Wow… Way to get you down,” Isaac sighs.

  
Derek rolls his eyes.

  
Isaac knows how the feeling of seeing someone dying in front of your eyes is. It’s awful, but you have to push it away and keep working. That’s what firefighters are trained for. Derek has seen so many corpses on his work that he totally lost count. But what’s worse than seeing corpses are the faces of people who have just lost a loved one.

  
It was a terrible mistake to stick around the hospital longer. The only consequences were that he had to see Stiles that way. Stiles used to be all cocky and happy at college. Derek still doesn’t know how someone couldn’t have fallen for him before Allison.

  
After a moment of awkward silence, Derek can hear Isaac sighing again. “Well… It’s been two years. Maybe he already moved on.” Isaac’s voice sounds far more mature now. As if he actually was an adult for the first time. “I mean, you’ve always been a little jealous of Allison at college anyway.”

  
“What is this now? Some kind of hunger games with Stiles as the trophy?”

  
“Hey, don’t forget that it actually was Stiles who started the idea of you two, being lovers, so don’t blame me!” Isaac walks past Derek, towards the spiral staircase. “You know, I always had something for Allison, but it doesn’t matter now anyway, because I don’t get to have a chance.”

  
Derek is just about to walk to Isaac and slap him against the back of his head, but he hesitates when Isaac continues.

  
“But you do. Keep that in mind.”

  
Derek doesn’t know what to answer. But it’s not important because Isaac’s already up the stairs.

 


End file.
